Zooming Away
by M Julie
Summary: PG to be safe. Takes place after SA2. Sonic gets bored and holds a kart racing tournament. But SEGA makes him invite the Dark Side. It's done! Finished! Completed! You get the point!
1. A Very Strange Way to Deal with Boredom

Well, here I am! Allow me to introduce myself. Obviously I am mjulie2001, which is what you should call me! I've been reading other fics for a while (I've always been a writer in a sense), but not that long. And I don't review an incredible amount either. I'll try harder…really! Speaking of reviews, I'm not going to post any more of this until I get some (I have most of this written out already, actually. All you have to do is say that you want to read more, and I'll post!) Anyway, on with the disclaimer. I don't own Sonic, SEGA, any of the Sonic characters, or any of the games (well, I have_ copies _of some of the games, but that's not what this space is for). I don't own Nintendo or Mario Kart 64 either (yes Nintendo pops up once or twice. Oh, and I own a _copy _of Mario Kart 64….wait a minute…did I go over this already? Oh…yeah…). I don't own the concept of Chao, but in a way, I own Zoom…but he is a Chao…who owns who? I do own Twilight, who doesn't come up for a long while. My cousin owns Wind, who comes up at the same time as Twilight, but it was his idea to put them in the story. Speaking of the story, I own that too. So begins my first story (which, by the way, is probably not going to be that great,)

Zooming Away

Once upon a time, there was a Chao. A Chao who did remarkable things, and helped to save the earth. Have you ever heard of that Chao? His name was Zoom. Here is his story.....

Zoom's egg hatched in a basket at the home of a fox. The fox was only a kid, but he was a remarkable mechanic. His name was Miles Prower, but everyone called him Tails.

Although they lived in a dimension mainly controlled by SEGA, Tails and Zoom liked to play games on the Nintendo 64. One day Tails played Mario Kart 64. He had built a special controller small enough for Zoom to use, so he played too. Tails was taken by surprise when Zoom beat him easily at it.

Tails had a few great friends, but his best friend was a blue hedgehog named Sonic. Sonic was a big adventurer who saved the world several times. He was the type who liked things to happen really quickly, but then again, it's no real wonder because Sonic could run at the speed of sound if he tried hard enough. Because of his personality, he was easily bored.

"I'm really bored!" said Sonic. "I want to do something exciting!"

"How about kart racing?" asked his friend, Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog who followed him around a lot.

"Perfect!" Sonic replied. "I can hold a kart racing tournament! That's your first good idea in years, Amy!"

"Goody!" said Amy, not being sarcastic at all. "Now who should we invite?"

"Duh, Amy! We can invite Tails, Knuckles, Rouge-"

"She's a government spy!"

"So?"

"Wouldn't she be busy?"

"Maybe..." Sonic wondered how busy a government spy could be.

"And plus, she's on the Dark Side!"

"She _was _on the Dark Side, and only because she was spying on Eggman and Shadow." Sonic stopped to think for a moment. "Do you think we could invite him?"

"Eggman?"

"No! Shadow!" Previously, Sonic and company had thought Shadow to be dead, and before that he was an enemy, but one day he'd mysteriously turned up, looking very unhealthy. He was very cryptic about his past, even about just how he survived.

"Maybe."

"Maybe we _could _invite the Dark Side. You know, act all innocent and have a tournament and all, but while we're at it see if they're up to anything..."

"Hmmmmmmmm," thought Amy aloud. "Maybe you're right. It's a lot like Eggman to be plotting ways to get rid of you, so he _is_ probably up to something."

"And if he tries anything too quickly at the tournament...." Sonic started. He didn't need to finish because he knew Amy knew what he was going to say.

Eventually Sonic decided he _would _invite the Dark Side. Actually, the SEGA people decided he would. They thought it would be a very interesting new video game. Much more interesting then the paddle boat game they had in mind. (Sonic wasn't too happy with the paddle boat idea. It didn't suit him) So the list of people invited was as follows:

Amy Rose

Miles "Tails" Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Dr. Eggman

Rouge the Bat

Sonic also invited everyone on the Hero Side (Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and himself) to a come a week before the tournament to practice and hang out. He didn't want to wait until the tournament started for some excitement. 

Exactly one week before the tournament, everyone Sonic had invited to come early was there, and he had received word that everyone else would come.

Tails arrived first. He was riding in his robot, which took three different shapes. It could become an airplane, walker-bot, or a kart exactly suitable for racing in. Riding in it was, of course, Zoom. Have you forgotten him? This is really his story, you know.

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic called out as Tails appeared in the distance. "Good to see you again!" 

Tails landed his robot-plane. "Hi Sonic!" he said. "How's it going?"

"Great!"

"Me too!" Tails turned to Amy. "Hi, Amy!" he greeted her. "How long have you been hanging around?"

"A while," Amy said. That was actually a huge understatement, since Amy "hung around" Sonic whenever possible.

A few minutes later Knuckles arrived. Knuckles was an echidna who protected the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald was an emerald with the power to control the Chaos Emeralds. That was a very powerful thing if you knew what it meant. Knuckles didn't own a race kart, so the SEGA people let him borrow one. 

Everyone greeted each other and stuff for a few minutes, but then Sonic decided to clue everyone in on the plan he and Amy had devised.

"Okay, everyone," he said. "The weirdoes up at SEGA decided to make me act like an idiot and invite the Dark Side."

"Why?" asked Tails.

"They thought it would make a good video game!" said Sonic. "Why can't they ever leave me alone?"

"Who?" asked Knuckles. "The SEGA people, or the Dark Side?"

"Both!" Sonic said. "But anyway, that's not the point. If the SEGA people are getting involved, it must mean the Dark Side is up to something. So I figure, if they come, they're going to try whatever they are planning against us. But if we force them to unleash whatever it is too early, they won't get the chance to develop it and we can defeat it easily."

"Are you sure that will work?" asked Tails.

"Of course it won't work!" Sonic replied. "But we have to try it anyway! And if they aren't planning anything, it's just another chance for us to kick their butts when we race!" Everyone grinned at how positive Sonic was that they would win. 

At ten PM that night, everyone was asleep at the house at the side of the practice track that Sonic was using. Tails and Zoom were sleeping in a room on the first floor near the kitchen. Everyone else was on the second floor. A shadowy human figure crept into the house. It was holding a tiny bottle of some liquid. It could have gone up the stairs, but it turned away from them. Instead, it headed in the general direction of the kitchen....


	2. The Fun Begins

Hi everyone! It's me again (obviously). I got reviews (not an incredible amount, but they're there, so I'm happy) so here's the next part! But don't expect every update to be so quick. If you read my useless ramble at the last chapter, you'd know that I have most of this written, but at the end I won't be able to update so quickly. I still have a life, you know! A very pathetic life, but that's not the point! What is the point, you ask? I'm getting there! Notes for the reviewing people!

To aliceamyrose- Thanks again for reviewing! Your stories are pretty good. That was a rather dull, uninspiring note (mine, not yours). I have to work on that…

To Toonangel. Thanks also for reviewing! Just one thing, what does, "brill" mean?

On with part 2! More ramble at the end!

* * *

Zoom slapped Tails in the face. Tails woke up. "Hey Zoom, what was that for?" asked Tails. Zoom pointed at the clock, up the stairs, and then out the door to the racetrack. Tails understood. He ran outside, got in his robot, and drove into the track. Zoom toddled after him so he could watch.

Sonic was about to start without him when Tails arrived. "Finally!" he said. "Glad you decided to wake up, Tails!" Tails smiled. Everyone started driving around the course.

Tails had started his third and final lap when he started to get a little headache. He ignored it. _Nothing…probably nothing…_ As he continued, though, it got stronger and stronger. _Getting annoying…oww…._ By the time Tails was about to cross the finish line, it was totally out of control. He tried as hard as he could to ignore it, but he couldn't. He was concentrating too hard on getting rid of the pain and not hard enough on the road. He had hardly noticed that he'd crossed the finish line when he crashed into a wall and blacked out.

"Tails! Tails, wake up!" said Sonic. Tails opened his eyes. He was still on the racetrack. Zoom, who had walked down to the track from the audience, pressed a red button on a little remote control. It illuminated lights on the side of the track. Everyone had agreed that would be an emergency stop signal. "Are you Ok?" asked Sonic.

Tails sat up and rubbed his head. "I think," he replied. He looked at his robot. It seemed a little banged up, but it had taken worse damage before.

Amy and Knuckles ran over. "How'd that happen?" Knuckles asked, gesturing toward the robot.

"I don't know," Tails said. "I guess I wasn't concentrating enough."

"That's not a very good excuse," said Amy. "That's the easiest turn on the course. You know, you don't look so good, Tails."

"Maybe you should go back inside," said Knuckles.

"You're probably right," said Tails. "I didn't get enough sleep last night anyway." He went inside and to his room and fell asleep.

* * * 

"Do you think he's ok?" Knuckles asked Sonic. The both of them were peeking into Tails' room. He had been asleep for hours.

"I dunno," said Sonic. "He really doesn't look good today."

"I know what ya mean," replied Knuckles. "I wonder if he'll be able to race again anytime soon...."

"I sure hope so...If any of us knows how to build a good racing kart, it's Tails."

* * *

"I can't race like this," said Tails. He was awake after sleeping for five hours. "I have a headache...and I feel sick...and I just can't race like this, Sonic. I'm going home..."

"If you want, Tails, you can stay here-" Sonic began.

"No, I'd just be in the way," replied Tails.

"Well, how're you gonna get home?"

"You think I built my Tornado without an Auto-Pilot?"

"Well.....Ok. Be careful, buddy."

"I will. Thanks anyway, Sonic." Tails gathered his and Zoom's stuff and took off.

* * *

A day before the members of the Dark Side were set to arrive, Sonic received a video call from Tails. (Tails was still developing the video-cell phone.)

"Hey there, little bro! Feelin' any better?" said Sonic.

"A little bit..."

"Tails, if you're still sick-"

"I know, I know, I shouldn't be up and around and video calling people, but this is an emergency! Look at this footage I found on the MSN!" (The MSN was not Microsoft Network. It was Mechanic's Security Network.) Tails displayed a short video.

"What's this?" asked Sonic.

"Footage from the security camera at that house you're using! The night we arrived!"

"There's a security camera system here?"

"Look at this!" On the video clip, a human figure was creeping in the direction of the kitchen.

"Who's that?"

"I dunno, but they went towards my room! They must have poisoned me or something!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that guy in there is...."

"Eggman!"

"Exactly! But even Eggman couldn't have pulled this one off!" Tails was slightly surprised.

"Why not?"

"I locked the door! I don't see any holes in that door or anything!"

"Are you trying to defend Eggman?"

"No! Not a chance! Are you sure you're all right, Tails?"

"I'm all right enough, Sonic! Why do you ask?"

"Because out of all people, _you _would never in a million years question my allegiance to the Hero Side!"

"Sorry, Sonic..."

"Well, whatever whoever did, it's obviously _not _killing you, and while that's good and all, it make me wonder a little bit. Why would Eggman do something to you that's not going to get rid of you?"

"He sort of _did _get rid of me, Sonic, I can't race. I think that's part of it." Sonic's video screen was starting to get blurry.

"Whatever it is, Tails, tell me quick, I'm losing you there."

"See, at the end of that official track you're using for the last round, there's that area where the-"

The screen blacked out.

* * *

Okay, my cliffhangers aren't great, if you call them cliffhangers. I want more reviews! I don't care if they're flames! I don't care if you just say you read it! I don't even care if you only type one letter! Just give me reviews!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!

Right. That's that then. Peace!


	3. Arrivals

Hello again, my faithful readers! _YOU _thought I wasn't going to update, but you were WRONG!!! GAH-HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! Oh….sorry….got a little….carried away…. Anyway, I'm soooooooooo sorry for the lack of updating. I know this is a lame excuse, but I haven't felt like it. Terrible excuse, really. But I'm honest with you….most of the time….. Anyway, thanks a billion to those who reviewed, and even to those like me (if they exist) who read it without reviewing. You give me a reason not to eliminate the story!! Goody!!!! Ok. Now….

To SonicFan#1: Thanks!!! I'm glad you think that I'm good at endings. Again, they're not great, but _I _like them….

To aliceamyrose: Not only did you review once, but twice! I'm astounded! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!!

Just a couple of extra notes to the general public:

Firstly, I originally wrote this for a very limited amount of people to read, namely, my cousin, and any other friends I made who happened to like Sonic (none yet!). So there are a few inside jokes in here. If there's useless ramble, assume it's either writer's block or an inside joke.

Secondly, expect much OOC-ness. Work with me here, I'm only human, and this is my first fic. So, without further ado…..ON WITH PART 3!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

The Dark Side arrived. First, Rouge in her license-plated car (A/N I'm serious! It has a license plate! If you don't believe me, look at her kart in SA2!!!). Then, Shadow, in a kart he had borrowed from Sega. Last (and least welcomed), Eggman in his own robot kart. They all said hello, and Sonic and Eggman even shook hands and called a temporary truce (Knuckles _really_ wanted to take a picture).

"So Sonic," said Shadow. Shadow had become much nicer recently. "Where's Tails?"

"Ahhhhhhh, he, ahh, was, umm, busy. Yeah, that's it, he was busy."

"Not too convincing, Mr. Blueberry." said Rouge the Bat.

All of the sudden, something drove into Sonic's shoe. Sonic looked down. Everyone stared.

The thing that had driven into Sonic was a racing kart. But not just any racing kart. This kart was _tiny_. 

And sitting inside was......you guessed it, Zoom. The Chao climbed out and handed Sonic a note. Sonic read out loud.

"Dear Sonic,

If you don't mind, Zoom will drive in my place. Don't worry- he is very very skilled at racing and will be extra careful. I'll explain more once I get my videophone working.

Your Friend,

Tails"

"Hwahahahaha!" Eggman laughed. "This is fox boy's best joke yet!'

"I don't think Tails was kidding, Dr. Eggman," said Knuckles, being unusually polite to his enemy.

"B-b-b-but that's impossible!!! He can't send this-this thing to race just because he was poisoned-"

"Wait a minute, how'd you know Tails was poisoned?!?!?" Sonic asked, instantly on red alert (or in his case, blue alert).

"Ummmmmm....internet?"

"Yeah right! And you were just strolling along in that military base when the last adventure started!"

"Well, ummmmm..."

"Save it, you two," said Rouge.

Knuckles added, "Yeah, we're s'posed to have a peace treaty in effect here and that doesn't allow you to hold arguing conte- wait a minute, did I just agree with bat girl?"

"Some peace treaty, knucklehead" muttered Rouge.

"What did you say?" asked Knuckles.

"Nothing," said Rouge.

"What?"

"NOTHING!!!"

"Well, you don't have to shout about it," said Amy.

Rouge said, "Sorry, it's just-"

"I was saying," said Eggman, "that there's no way this Chao can race. There _must _be some kind of rule against it.

`"Speaking of which, Sonic interrupted, "there are a few rules we have to set straight. These are all official rules and if you break any of them SEGA will do something about it. And if they don't then I will. Now that we have that said:

"Firstly, you must use the same kart you began the tournament with the whole way through. Under no circumstances may you alter your car in any way. You got that, Egghead? No brilliant ideas here." All of this except for the first word and the last two sentences were a direct quote from the rulebook Sonic was reading from.

"Secondly, there'll be five rounds. All five are on a different track. The first track is here. The track goes in a circle so we're gonna go three times around. The next is through Capital City, a few miles down the road. The one after that is a floating highway that connects the Capital Coast to the Unnamed Dessert- hold on, I think whoever wrote this meant Desert." Knuckles snorted. Sonic went purple (rather than red).

"_As I was saying,"_ Sonic continued in a tone that told Knuckles to shut up, "The fourth track is _through _the Unnamed Dessert- I mean desert, of course, to a place in the middle where there's a teleportation device. We'll use it to go up," Sonic glanced at Shadow, then continued, "to the space colony ARK."

Shadow narrowed his eyes, suddenly very angry. "Why on earth-err-in space-err, ummmm...WHY THE HECK DID YOU INVITE ME! I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH THAT PLACE! I AM **NOT** GOING BACK THERE!!!!!!"

"Cool it, Shadow!!!" said Rouge. "It's a race and we aren't going to stop long enough for you to get lost in your memory! Say...." she continued curiously, yet cautiously, "Why do you hate that place so much? I thought you used to live there!"

"Forget it," said Shadow.

"Awwwww, c'mon Shadow, we want to know!" said Amy.

"Leave the hedgehog be," said Sonic. "Let him be tough if he wants to."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and told Rouge, "I always thought it was a Sonic thing, but maybe it's a _hedgehog _thi- wait a minute, am I having a conversation with Bat Girl?"

"And thirdly," said Sonic, moving on, "You have to stay on course. You got that, Egghead? No brilliant ideas here."

"You said that already, you stupid hedgehog." said Eggman. Sonic assumed that was a reply.

"Hmmmmmm, that's funny," said Sonic, "It doesn't say in here anywhere that Chao can't compete. So I guess the little guy can race."

"Y'know, doc, I think Mr. Blueberry is right there...." Rouge said carefully.

"Fine! He can race. There's no way he can beat _me_ anyway-"

Sonic and Knuckles both snorted.

"Stupid hedgehog," muttered Eggman as he walked away.

"So, now that we've got that out of the way," said Sonic, "why don't we get some food?" Knuckles immediately rushed inside (he was hungry), Rouge nodded and followed, and Shadow kicked his hoverboots on and let them carry him after the two, with anger, anxiety, and (was Sonic imagining it?) a little bit of sadness still in his eyes.

Now the only two outside were Sonic and Zoom. Sonic was watching the sunset and letting the breeze blow through his quills (these two things reminded him of some old friends of his), and Zoom was just standing there, waiting for Sonic to look at him. After a few minutes he got tired of waiting and poked Sonic on his ankle.

Sonic looked down. "What is it, little guy?"

Zoom was still holding Tails' note. He turned it to the back and handed it to Sonic. There was a message on it. Sonic recognized at as the Chaos Code, which you needed something Chaos-related to read or write:

Tpmjd,

Wjefpqipmf. Njemjhiu upmjhiu. Dpnf bmpmf. Dibpujd efubjmt.

Zpvst,

Ubjmt

"C'mere, Zoom." Sonic said immediately. He crouched down low to the ground. As Zoom neared the words became clear:

Sonic,

Videophone. Midnight tonight. Come alone. Chaotic details.

Yours,

Tails

"Smart of Tails, to write it in Chaos Code," said Sonic. "Midnight, eh? I hope he's feeling better... oh, yeah..." Sonic remembered his promise to stop treating Tails as a baby. He picked up Zoom and walked inside.

* * * 

The phone came on. The screen was still loading. "What's the deal, Tails?" Sonic began sternly, eyes narrowed.

"Sonic, I don't have time for lectures on being up at midnight now. I had to wait until it was safe." The screen came on. Tails' eyelids drooped and his fur was shaggy. He looked very tired.

"Tails, you look terrible, what happened to you?"

"It's not important, Sonic-"

"Tails!"

"Look, I don't have long because I've only been able to adjust this a little since yesterday. The last track is in space, right?" Sonic nodded. "Ok, where does it end?"

Sonic looked at a map of the course and compared it to the map of the colony Tails had. His jaw dropped.

"Sonic! Where does it end?!?!?"

"I-I-I don't believe this.....Shadow will kill me...."

"I know!" said Tails hurriedly. "It ends........at the Eclipse Cannon!!!"

"Still, what's so important, Tails?"

The screen was getting blurry again. Sonic's eyes widened. "Hurry up Tails!!!!"

"There's-.....still-" the sound was starting to scratch out, ".................................................. .....that-........cannon!!!!!"

"I didn't get that Tails! What about the cannon? Tails!?!?!"

The screen went blank again.

* * *

Note to self: post more than one way to end a chapter. Note to readers: review. Please!!! See last chapter for more information.

Thanks alotalotalot for readingreadingreadingreading. Laterlaterlater!


	4. Racing, Talking, and Other Stuff

Hello again, my faithful readers! You have no idea how cool it was for me to sign on tonight (I was busy all day) and find a whole bunch of reviews!!!! I even got one while I was online, talking to my friends!!! Yay!!! I'm updating quickly,

To make up for lack of updating last time, and 'Cause you people asked me to!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAH! 

And now, presenting, MORE NOTES FOR THE REVIEWING PEOPLE!!!!

To aliceamyrose- Cool. Waaaaaay cool. You've reviewed every chapter so far. Awesome.

To Lori Kimaya- Thank you. Don't worry, I don't kill people. At least, not in any of the stories I'm writing as of now. 'Specially not Tails!!!! He's too cool! Shadow'll be ok, too, he's just sad at the moment. Face it, he's had a depressing life. As for the cannon….well, you're going to have to keep reading to find out, huh? I've given enough away already!

To NocturnalWolf- Thanks also. I like how it bothers you that I haven't updated. I'm not mean, I'm just glad someone cares. And I'm not a man, either, don't know if I mentioned that. Oh, I know, it's just an expression…..

To Icedemon the echidna- You'll have to read to find out. Oh, no, that was too cliffhanger-ish, wasn't it?!?!? I agree, Chao are so adorable!!!!

To Galux Kitty- Thanks. I wasn't sure if anyone else would enjoy that, but I know I did.

To all that expressed an annoyance with cliffhangers- I'm sorry, but they're so fun to write, and I enjoy reading them myself. Even if I have the rest written, I love a well-written cliffhanger. So sorry… 

Ah, yes, I believe I forgot to add this before…Disclaimer: See Part 1. I partially own the Director, who I forgot to mention there. He, too, comes up later. My cousin and I made him up once, and now he pops up in my stories. But don't count on seeing him for a while…

ON WITH PART 4!!!!!!!

* * *

"**On your mark, get set.....GO!!!"**

They were off. Rouge started up pretty quickly, but soon Eggman and Knuckles were ahead of her. Sonic took about thirty seconds to reach top speed and then zoomed along the track almost as fast as he ran. Zoom managed to squeeze around the tightest turns, but since turns weren't too hard on this course, he mostly relied on his light weight to give him a good speed. Knuckles' kart was well rounded, a little bit of everything. But in the end the standings were as follows:

1st Place Sonic the Hedgehog

2nd Place Zoom the Chao

3rd Place Shadow the Hedgehog

4th Place Knuckles the Echidna

5th Place Rouge the Bat

6th Place Amy Rose

7th Place Dr. Eggman

The group was to stay in the trackside house that night. The next day they would move to the site of the next race, which was at the Capital Coast. Sonic, who was sleeping very lightly that night, was in the bedroom on the bottom floor and heard a sharp mechanical beep around ten that woke him up.

The videophone was back on. It was Tails again.

"Sonic! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get to you!" The screen wasn't working very well. There was a lot of static and Tails' shape was barely visible.

"What's up, little bro?" Sonic said, but not with his usual energy.

"How am I going to contact you? You're on the road tomorrow!"

"It's called a cell phone, Tails. I _have_ got one, you know."

"What if I need to bring up a map or a chart?"

"_Please _tell me that you haven't been working on the video cell phone yet. And that you're feeling better too. And that you'll stop calling me in the middle of the night. And that you'll get to the point. And-" The phone had turned off while Sonic was talking, but he was too tired to even notice.

"G'night, Tails," he said, even when he knew Tails couldn't hear him, and went back to the lower room to sleep.

* * *

Sonic woke up early again the next morning. He was not surprised to see Knuckles awake this time. "Hey Knuckles," he asked, "you don't by chance have your emerald with you?"

"I have to keep it with me," said Knuckles. "It's part of my job. I thought you knew that, why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

"Sonic?" asked Knuckles carefully.

"What?" said Sonic.

"I've never seen you wake up this early. Is something bothering you?" Sonic didn't expect a question like that out of Knuckles. It was an understanding between the two of them that they didn't talk about their personal feelings. Knuckles _thought_ he wasn't allowed to have them because of his job. Sonic just preferred to be tough.

"It's no big deal," said Sonic, trying to keep things simple.

"Sonic," he began, "I really hate to bother you, but I _know_ there's something weird going on. First, you wake up really early two mornings straight, when everyone knows you like to sleep in. Then, you didn't brag about winning the first race _all_ of yesterday."

Sonic cracked a grin. "So, that's where I messed up, eh?"

Knuckles smiled. "Yup. Shadow even noticed, and you hardly know the guy. If I didn't know better, I'd say even Eggman noticed." Knuckles and Sonic both stuck out their tongues.

"Wow, I was that bad?" said Sonic.

"What are you trying to hide, anyway?"

"There's nothing you can do...."

"What if there's something I _can_ do?"

"Fine, fine, but not a word of this to Shadow, Bat Girl, or even Amy, and ESPECIALLY not Eggman."

"Sure thing, you have my promise."

"All right. It all started the night before the Dark Side arrived. I got a video call from Tails."

"From Tails?"

"From Tails. Well, y'know, he didn't look to good, but on top of that, he had some alarming information on _why_ he didn't_._ Someone poisoned him that night you arrived. Tails caught it on his security cam." 

"Poisoned? Is he all right?" Knuckles matched Sonic's tone of concern for the fox kid.

"I'm not too sure. I don't think it's deadly or anything, but from the looks of it, it could turn that way if Tails doesn't lay off the mechanics till he's better. The weird thing is that Eggman knew about it."

"Now that I think about it," said Knuckles, "I do remember you and Eggman arguing about something like that. Eggman said that Zoom couldn't race just because Tails was poisoned, and then you asked how he knew that....yeah...I was hardly even paying attention..."

"Too busy trying to flirt with Bat Girl?" Sonic asked.

"SHUT UP!!!" shouted Knuckles, punching Sonic in the face.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwww- hey, has it just been a long time since you last did that or are those knuckles getting sharper?"

"Both," said Knuckles, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, that's not all. Tails said something about the end of the last racetrack."

"The one in space?"

"Yeah. Then the screen blacked out, and the next day he sent Zoom. On the back of that note he wrote me was a message written in Chaos Code."

"Must've taken Tails some effort to write,"

"Yeah, Chaos Code can really drain your energy. The message said that he would call on the videophone that night at midnight. He did, and we found out that the track ends right at the Eclipse Cannon."

"Shadow will kill you," said Knuckles.

"You're wrong, from what I've had of Shadow, he'll kill all of us. Can you imagine it?" Sonic began to impersonate his counterpart, "All of you ungrateful humans- I mean hedgehogs-err...ungrateful....oh never mind, I give up!"

Knuckles laughed quietly and said, "I hope he didn't hear you, or else he won't wait until he figures out where this race is taking us, he'll kill us all now!"

"My point is, then Tails tried to tell me something about that cannon. I couldn't quite catch it 'cause that videophone still isn't working right. It's driving me nuts. It's gotta be important. Nothing about that cannon, or those Chaos Emeralds, for that matter, is ever unimportant. Ever." he finished.

Knuckles thought for a moment and then said, "I wouldn't worry about that cannon, Sonic. After all, all its power is from the Chaos Emeralds, which means, no matter what happens, I can stop it."

Sonic didn't bother to say, _That's what we thought last time._

* * *

So sorry to leave you hanging like that!!!! I had to do it!!! ::starts anime-crying:: I'M SO SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::stops::

Ok. That's over with….REVIEW!!! While we're on the subject, I get to rant a little: What's with people who say "r/r no flames"? I mean, they ask for your opinion, but if they aren't going to like it, they reject it? WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY IS THIS!?!?!? No offense, and I'm not accusing any of my readers…but, well…. Anyway…. I just realized how short this is. My deepest apologies. I just love this ending…. You know, I probably had one more thing to say, and as soon as I upload this, I'll remember it. Did I write that in an earlier chapter? I don't know.

I really hate to repeat this…but REVIEW!!!!!!!! For more info, see the end of Part 2. I'll update again, provided I get the following:

Spare time during which the computer is working, and Some reviews. No set number. Even one or two. Your review could make the difference, folks. Just a single, solitary- ::gets hit on head with rock thrown by audience member:: X . X I'm okay….Peace, all, and see you soon! 


	5. A Chapter With No Formal Title as of Now

Hi all! It's me again, and no, I'm not dead, and no, I haven't given up on this story. I've been **sob** NEGLECTING it for ONE REASON:

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got a single review, and it had to be at least three weeks after I uploaded this. So I figured, I was way to quick with the updating, or the last chapter lost all my readers for OOC-ness. You want a note? Well, too bad, you didn't leave any big, open, "INSERT NOTE HERE" spaces. Sorry! Anyway, I remembered what I was going to say, but I might not say it, anyway…

Anyway, the review award goes to Icedemon the Echidna!!!! Yeeeeeee!!!! Thanks! I was going to update at one point or another, but now that I have a reviewer within recent history, I have an actual REASON to!!!!! 

If you want a disclaimer, you'll have to look at the previous chappies, cause I'm not repeating anything. Oh, yes, I don't own nor do I want to own Toonami or DBZ, which make brief appearences.

Ok, now you have an EXCEEDINGLY long chapter to read. Prepare for probably more OOC-ness. See you at the end, and enjoy!

* * *

"All right, everyone ready?" asked Sonic. He got back a cute nod from Zoom, an, "Of course, my darling!!!" from Amy (Sonic stepped back) a kind of grunt from Eggman which he took as a yeas, and a determined nod from both Knuckles and Rouge, both of which immediately looked away from each other when they realized this. Sonic sighed. "Let's go then," he said. They all began to drive toward Capital City.

**"On your mark, get set, go!"** shouted the announcer-voice dude. Rouge started again to accelerate very well, turning through the hills of Capital City with ease until she noticed that they were playing very annoying music in the background.

__

Rolling around at the speed of sound,

Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow (?)

Can't stick around, have to keep moving on.

Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out

Must keep on moving ahead

No time for guessing, follow my plan instead

Trusting in what you can't see

Take my lead I'll set you free

Follow me

Set me free

Trust me and we will escape from the city......

Rouge screamed in agony and crashed into a building.

Sonic groaned. "They're _still_ playing that music here?" He continued to drive.

The moment the race started Eggman cried, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! STUPID HEDGEHOG MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he crashed next to Rouge, who immediately ran away. "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!!!!!" shouted Eggman.

"Idiot Sonic music," said Shadow. "Luckily, being the ultimate life form that I am, I'm always prepared." Shadow pulled out a CD player and earphones. He flipped the CD to his (least?) favorite song:

__

Live and learn,

hangin' on the edge of tomorrow!

Live and learn

from the works of yesterday!

Live and learn

If you beg or if you borrow

Live and learn

You may never find your way....

Knuckles also had his own music. It gave him the creeps:

__

You know we the fighting freak Knuckles,

And we're at Pumpkin Hill You ready? 

I ain't gonna let it get to me,

I'm just gonna creep.

Down in Pumpkin Hill I gots to find my lost piece.

I know that it's here, I can sense it in my feet. 

The great Emerald's power allows me to feel. 

I can't see a thing but it's around somewhere, 

I'm gonna hold my head 'cause I have no fear. 

This probably seems crazy, crazy, graveyard eerie. 

A ghost-

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Knuckles, driving as fast as he could.

Zoom's kart was brilliant for one reason and one reason only- It was soundproof.

So even with all the

__

Rolling around at the speed of sound

Hangin on the edge of tomorrow!

"GHOST!!!!!!"

in the background, nothing ever distracted Zoom.

As for Amy, when City Escape came on, she said, "I **_LOVE_** THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!!" and started singing along. Everyone stopped and stared at Amy, creating a long, awkward silence except for all of the

__

Follow my rainbow!

You may never find your way

"GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!!"

going on in the background.

"What?" said Amy.

1st Place Zoom the Chao

2nd Place Shadow the Hedgehog

3rd Place Amy Rose

4th Place Knuckles the Echidna

5th Place Sonic the Hedgehog

6th Place Rouge the Bat

7th Place Dr. Eggman

"Yessssssss!" shouted Knuckles once the race had finished. "I beat Sonic! I beat Sonic!" he teased the blue hedgehog. Sonic punched him in the face. "Don't even try that," said Knuckles. "You can't beat me at my own game!"

Sonic raised his eyes nervously. "That...didn't hurt him at all did it?" he asked Shadow, who was standing behind him.

"I'm afraid not," said Shadow, regaining his old evil smirk.

"Uh.....oh......." said Sonic.

"It was nice knowing you," said Shadow, sounding serious.

Sonic looked at Knuckles.

"Honestly, I was kidding!" said Shadow. "Just because I'm the ultimate life form doesn't mean I can't have a sense of humor!"

"I thought you got over the whole 'ultimate life form' thing," said Rouge.

"Me to- wait a minute, NOT AGAIN!" said Knuckles.

"Can you just tell her that you like her and get it over with, Knuckles?" asked Sonic. Knuckles glared at him very angrily.

"It was nice knowing you," said Shadow.

"Ha ha, very funny," said Sonic, getting annoyed.

"I was serious."

* * *

"How go the races, Sonic?" It was Tails, calling Sonic on his electric blue cell phone. Sonic and the crew were staying in a hotel by the Capital Coast.

"Not too good," said Sonic.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Evil music."

"Oh, yeah, you're at City Escape today, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well how is Zoom doing?"

"He won the last race."

"I made his car soundproof."

"That would explain it. You sound a lot better, Tails."

"You sound a lot worse," said Tails.

"Knuckles got mad at me..."

"Oh," said Tails. They knew from experience that Knuckles' punches hurt, badly. Hence the name Knuckles.

"What'd ya' do to get him mad?" asked Tails.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," said Sonic. "I sorta....made fun of him and Rouge."

"Oh, I see." said Tails. "That happens a lot, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

"You shouldn't make fun of him so much."

"He doesn't mind!"

"Then why'd he punch you?"

"Good point... What'd you say about that cannon, Tails?"

"I said that that cannon still has-"

"Your call has been disconnected," the Director's voice said. "Plus, you're not supposed to find out until it's too late for you to do anything!"

"Go back to your own dimension," Sonic said frustratedly.

"Oh, fine. Aw, man!" the Director left.

Shadow turned on the TV. He, Sonic, Knuckles, and Zoom were sharing a room. Amy and Rouge, being girls, shared a different room, and Eggman (who nobody wanted to spend the night with) had a whole closet to himself.

"Change the channel, this is the kind of stuff Tails watches." said Sonic. Shadow was watching an "intense"(ly boring, as Sonic would have said) debate about giant fighting robots in space. Shadow was only interested in the space part, but Sonic was right-Tails was watching the same thing back at his house.

"Really, Shadow," said Knuckles. "You watch these senseless arguments about robots in space, but at the first mention of that colony, you go all weird and you have to run twice around the world before you can say two words to anyone!" Knuckles was right. The scientists on the television had mentioned the space colony ARK and the cartoon channel was on, quick as a wink. On the cartoon channel, though, they were showing Toonami, which almost always showed DragonBallZ, a show about people going into super forms, and when that wasn't on, there were shows about space. Shadow flipped through all the channels but the only thing that wasn't talking about space colonies was the Director Channel (don't ask). Shadow turned off the television in frustration.

"Running," he said, leaving.

"I told you." said Knuckles. "One word and he's out the door."

"So what, Knuckles?" asked Sonic.

"So I'm just saying that it's a little weird. He _did_ live there most of his life."

"You do know that Bat Girl said that."

"You're in no condition to be on my bad side, Sonic," Knuckles warned. Sonic immediately hid under the covers of the bed he was sitting on. Knuckles rolled his eyes and left for a vending machine, smirking as to say, _Pathetic._

_But he's right, _thought Sonic, _Shadow does act weird at the mention of that colony. Why?_

* * *

"Where's Shadow?" asked Rouge.

"He went running." Sonic said. "What are you doing in our room?"

"Just wondering why you're hiding under the covers like that."

"I'm hiding from Amy," lied Sonic.

"She's not after you right now,"

"That's what she wants me to think. Why do you even care?"

"You just...shouldn't be hiding like that, that's all."

"Oh, go away,"

"Fine!" said Rouge. On the way out she bumped into Knuckles, who was returning from the vending machine. 

Rouge grinned at him and said, "Y'know, this hotel is _haunted........."_ Knuckles turned from **red** to **grey** and hid under the covers next to Sonic. Rouge burst out laughing and walked away.

"Knuckles, you don't look so good," said Sonic, rolling his eyes.

"GHOST!!!!!!!!"

Sonic left for the vending machine, smirking as to say, _Pathetic._

* * *

A very muddy Shadow returned from a long run. There was a pizza box on the table and Sonic and Knuckles were both sleeping in front of the TV. Shadow took off his skates to reveal his socks. He didn't even bother to take them off as he went into the shower to rinse off. When he dried himself out, he took a piece of pizza and flipped on the TV. They were still showing the same programs.

"I can't take this," said Shadow to himself. He wrote out a note to Sonic-

Sonic-

I'm afraid I must withdraw from the race. My deepest apologies for bailing on you.

-Shadow.

* * *

Sonic yawned and stretched out. Knuckles was still asleep (Sonic had hardly ever seen Knuckles sleep this late, but he decided not to make anything of it) but Shadow wasn't there. A lot of mud told Sonic that Shadow had indeed returned from last night's run, but where was he now? Sonic was beginning to give up when he noticed the note taped to the TV set. 

"Knuckles," Sonic said sharply. Knuckles woke up. "C'mere, look at this," Sonic showed him the note.

"What does he think he's playing at?" asked Knuckles. "You didn't do anything to him, did you?"

"Not that I know of," said Sonic, "But you could be sending the guy into flashback mode without even realizing it..."

"I know," said Knuckles. "Why would he want to drop out?"

"To avoid going up to that colony?" wondered Sonic "Or maybe something....else?"

* * *

HA HA HA!!!!!! CLIFFHANGERISHNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O.O….sorry! Don't know what got into me there….Anyway, all lyrics are courtesy of animelyrics.com . I was going to say, if you can guess how old I am, I might even tell you if you're right! Yes, I know I already wrote that in my lookup. Anyway, I'm going to have to give you a message vital to me posting any more of this:

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT THAT??????? Ok, ok, I'm being a little scary…but honestly! I **have** to know that someone's reading!!!!!! RAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, readers, do it for me! For all the people on that planet! Give them a cha- oh…wait….never mind that last one….sometimes I'm waaaaaay too obsessed with SA2, but hey! That's probably why this story exists! So, review!!!! All I ask is a review or two!!!! GAAAAAH!!!

Peace out, and hopefully see ya soon!!! ::nudge, nudge.::


	6. Two Races and At Least One Odd Occurence...

**sob** I'M SO SORRY!!!!!!!!!!! I really didn't mean to take so long. I just didn't get a chance to post…..first there was the school play, then I sort of went into a "Sonic is starting to get a bit boring" phase, then new Pokemon games and Zelda WindWaker….too much to handle! I'M SO SORRY!!!!!!

Anyway, as for the age thing, the winner is Icedemon (the echidna, I presume). Yeah, 12. Ok, I only got two guesses. Other than that, I was quite flattered by many of your reviews…I'd understand if you didn't want to read this anymore, but I'd still like it if you did! And maybe even reviewed a little! I'm currently in the process of typing the end…this story has taken me a long time to write, ya know. I started quite a while before I posted the first chapter…. 

Let's see….almost everyone in this chapter belongs to SEGA, but Buckles, who is mentioned but does not appear, and the Director, who does appear but no one really wants him to, belong halfway to me, halfway to my cousin, which is sort of odd and this is a terrible run-on.

Anyway, if you're actually reading this, you probably want to get at the actual story! Here goes! 

* * *

**"On your marks, get set, go!!!!!"**

The six of the racers started on the course. The Route 101/208 music was playing. The course was straight, but very long. It went over the ocean and the Prison Remains (where Prison Island used to be). Sonic's kart was good for this type of racing. Zoom's was average. Rouge's was also average. Eggman's and Amy's stunk at everything. Knuckles' was ok. It was a rather boring race.

1st Place Sonic the Hedgehog

2nd Place Rouge the Bat

3rd Place Knuckles the Echidna

4th Place Zoom the Chao

5th Place Amy Rose

6th Place Dr. Eggman

"Notice that Eggman hasn't won a single race?" asked Sonic.

"Kinda weird," agreed Rouge.

"Yeah, he's supposed to be a scientific gen- remind me to keep quiet when she says stuff, ok Sonic?"

Sonic merely smirked and strode off.

A camp at Unnamed Coaster- Sonic means...Coast, was built. Each racer had a small tent and there was a large fire in the middle. Sonic, Knuckles, and Zoom sat together. Knuckles was on the end. Rouge managed to inch toward him without his noticing until she was right next to him. Knuckles moved away, turning (if possible) even redder than he already was. Sonic grinned until Rouge got next to him. She picked up a folded piece of paper. It was Shadow's note. 

"So he just...left?" asked Rouge.

"Yeah...." said Sonic. "You know the guy pretty well, what do you think happened?"

"I don't know..." said Rouge, "you didn't...say anything to him? Anything that might have, oh, you know, bring something back? I don't know when it happens, it's so sudden..."

"Neither do I," admitted Sonic. "Say," he added, changing the subject, "what do you think of Knuckles?"

Rouge looked very embarrassed. "That's for me to know and none of you to find out," she said.

Sonic tried to conceal a laugh. Knuckles took out a ukulele and started to strum a few chords. Suddenly he burst into a rap.

__

My name is Knuckles

I'm afraid of Buckles.

He's my bro,

But he's a ghost, you know!

Everyone gave Knuckles a weird look. Crickets chirped in the background, even though there are no crickets in the Dessert...Sonic means....Desert. Knuckles turned so red that he started to go up in flames.

**"FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" **he shouted very loudly. The military heard him. They fired antibiotics at him. He went crazy and started singing, "ANTIBIOTIC! ANTIBIOTIC!"

"O-kay..." said Sonic. Even Zoom edged away from Knuckles a bit.

"Second thought," said Rouge, "I have no feelings toward Knuckles. Actually, I like Shadow much better. Say....you look a lot like Shadow....."

A blue flash was seen moving across the Dessert-errr...Desert at the speed of sound. It didn't return until hours later.

* * *

**"On your marks, get set....STOP!!!!!"** Everyone started to race anyway. Sonic was in the lead, followed closely by Zoom. This track was also straight and long, but it was easy for Zoom's light car to move across the endless sands. Suddenly everyone crashed into out-of-place brick walls. **"I told you to stop, but did you listen? NO!!!!!!"** shouted the announcer dude. **"This particular race is now officially canceled! The tournament will continue in the space colony ARK."**

Rouge walked up to Sonic, rubbing her head. "That was just weird," she said. "Do you think that's why Shadow left?"

"I have no idea," said Sonic. "It could be because he just doesn't want the memories brought back up....but....well...you know Shadow." he finished.

"Yeah," said Rouge.

"Remember how ticked he was when you first said we were going up to the colony?" asked Knuckles.

"Ticked? That's an understatement," said Rouge. "He was positively disturbed."

"Almost as disturbed as Knuckles'll be when he figures out he's having a conversation with you, Rouge!" said Sonic. Knuckles tried to punch him in the face, but Sonic was ready this time. He ducked.

* * *

Later, at the teleportation machine to the ARK, the crew set up camp again. Sonic finally dared Knuckles to try and have a conversation with Rouge without punching anyone or running away. It was quite a pleasant evening. Among the topics discussed was the subject of the strange announcer dude.

"Who do you think he is? He's obviously more than a recording, judging by the way he talked to us earlier today," said Amy.

"I wonder if he's really the Director?" asked Rouge.

"He's waaaaayy too smart to be the Director," said Knuckles. "I think he's a SEGA representative."

"Knuckles is right," agreed Sonic. "SEGA's the only thing that can do all of the stuff that guy does."

Sonic's cell phone rang. He answered.

"Hey, Sonic!" said a voice. It was Tails.

"Hey, Tails! What's up?" Sonic replied.

"Aren't you the least bit annoyed that I haven't told you what I've figured out yet?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, "but the Director said I couldn't find out. Don't tell me or you'll get disconnected."

"Okay. I figured out one more thing, though."

"Try it," said Sonic.

"I found out who broke into the house that one night! It was-"

"YOUR CALL HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted the Director, "AND IF YOU TWO TRY THAT ONE MORE TIME, WE'LL DISCONNECT YOUR WHOLE LINE!!!!!!! Have a nice day."

_We'll disconnect your line? Who's we?_ thought Sonic.

"That was a strange way to end a conversation, Blueberry," said Rouge.

"Disconnected," muttered Sonic.

"Say," said Amy, "where's Eggman been anyway?"

Everyone looked toward Eggman's tent, where you could see his shadows against the canvas. He was messing with wires on some machine.

"I don't wanna know," said Knuckles.

"I think I know who disconnected my call..." said Sonic angrily.

"Sonic...peace treaty..." reminded Rouge. The gleam in Sonic's eye was starting to look like the familiar one he got whenever he was about to take on an enemy.

"Ohhh, all right," Sonic replied reluctantly. 

* * *

And so, an almost non-cliffhanger ending! Sort of…almost…nevermind….anyway, I bet you know what I am going to say!!!! It starts with RE and ends with VIEW!!!!!!! Creative, aren't I? Yes! Peace out everyone, and hope I get the next chap up sooner! For my sake and yours! 


	7. The Beginning of the End

YAY!!!! I'm back! I'm back again! I haven't left! I'm back! Ok, you get the point now, don't you? Well thank you reviewers aliceamyrose and the ever-changing alias of SonicFan#1!!!! Good to hear from you again! Yes, I know you could say the same thing to me, but too baddiness! Almost done almost done almost done! Too much sugar too much sugar too much sugar! Ok, enjoy this rather short and rather evil cliffhanger, that is if you can't already solve it by the end of the chapter on common sense alone. There are no new characters to claim or disclaim in this chapter, so read on, faithful ones!

* *

"All right," said Sonic, "It all comes down to this. I've added all of the rankings up. It works like this: Whoever has the lowest rankings gets a head start. That's me and Zoom, we're tied."

"How does it feel to be tied with a Chao, hedgehog?" asked Eggman evilly.

"How does it feel to be dead last, Eggface?" Sonic said mockingly.

"Not for long…" Eggman muttered. 

"What was that? I didn't catch it," said Rouge quickly.

"Nothing," muttered Eggman.

All the rather amusing banter was lost on Zoom, who was peeping over the edge

"Anyway, Knuckles'll go after that, then Rouge, then Amy, and once again," Sonic started singing in that annoying tune people use when teasing others, "Eggman is last! Eggman is last!!!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Eggman.

"**On your marks," **said an entirely different announcer, **"get set," **everyone was ready to go on the wildly dangerous track, floating miles above the earth, **"Sonic and Zoom, GO!!!"**

Sonic and Zoom took off. Sonic was puzzled by the background music, which seemed oddly familiar. Then he realized it was the same song that had served as music back when he and Shadow were enemies and taking each other on. 

The racetrack's turns were very tight, but Zoom rounded them easily. Sonic had some trouble. About one minute later Knuckles started racing down the complex track. As Sonic struggled with a turn, he heard Knuckles catching up and Rouge starting. 

Back at the starting line, Amy felt very alone. She wondered why until she noticed, "EGGMAN'S GONE!!!!!!!!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" She thought for a moment and then said, "I know! I'll call Sonic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She took out a gruesomely pink cellular phone and dialed Sonic's blue one.

"NOT NOW, AMY!!!!!!!" Sonic nearly shouted into his cell phone when he picked up.

"Sonic! Eggman's not here!" she said.

"He's not?" Sonic raised an eye. (He would have raised an eyebrow, but I'm not sure if he has any.)

"No! He's not!"

"That's it," said Sonic. "I'm going to get that Egghead. First, he attacks Tails. Then, he disconnects our calls. Now….it's personal." Amy didn't like hearing Sonic's voice so deadly quiet. "Listen, Ames," he said, "start driving and _stay_ at the end of the track when you get there_. Don't_ try playing hero, just get there. I should be there when you do-" Sonic bumped against his off button. He had just gone over the thin barrier that separated the track from empty space. He was falling…...

A robot kart appeared close to the finish line. The kart was at the entrance to a tunnel; the passageway to the Eclipse Cannon. Eggman, of course, was driving it and about to get into the tunnel. Knuckles, who was just behind him, felt like he was going to be sick- he was positive Eggman was trying to fire the cannon. He floored his pedal, but it was to no avail- Eggman was too fast. But instead of hearing the evil laughter he expected…..

he heard the screech of wheels being forced to stop.

Sonic closed his eyes and waited for his cart to start burning in the earth's atmosphere. He was about to suffer a fate even worse than what he thought had happened to Shadow. As soon as even the tiniest flames made their way into the fuel tank, Sonic was doomed to death by an explosion. He waited for the burning heat to start overtaking his kart.

It didn't.

Sonic opened his eyes. He was in a passageway of some kind, speeding almost as fast as he could run. The passageway was made of glass. Suddenly the blue hedgehog hit the ground. His kart was as good as wrecked upon impact, but luckily he was all right. He climbed out and looked around. He was in a large room. Sonic felt a tap on his shoulder from behind him.

He turned around.

He was staring into the last two faces he expected to see.

* * *

Told ya the cliffhanger was rather evil!!! Ok, it's getting to be a rather badly written story….but the end is near, folks! And so, REVIEW!!!!!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS USELESS BANTER OF DEATH!!!!!!!!!! Thanks! Peace out!


	8. A Climactic Chapter

Hey everyone. I'm back….and not as hyper at the moment….well, if you still want to read this, let me warn you that the story probably gets worse and worse from here…which means most likely I have lost my talent or something…..but anyway! 

Thanks to aliceamyrose again for reviewing **sob** you've stuck with the story through and through and reviewed a heck of a lot and…..**sob** ….oh yeah, and I forgot to thank babyslayer last time around. Anyways….

Notice how I end almost every one of my thoughts with some form of the word "anyway?"

Stuff: Nothing really new in this chapter. I said this in Chapter 1, but Twilight the Fox belongs to me and Wind the Hedgehog belongs to my cousin (whose idea it was to include them in my little tale). This chapter and the next contain a very odd sort of concept which I shall explain within. The concept is once again partially mine, partially my cousin's, as it was formed in the same way as the director. Also note that this chapter may be a bit odd because not only does it include the previously described concept and/or characters, I did some rather sloppy editing right as I was about to post….. TIME TO ACTUALLY READ THE STORY!!!

* * *

Back on the track, Knuckles stopped his own kart and climbed out. Two familiar figures were standing in front of Eggman's kart, holding it from going any further. But they were not using physical strength.

Wind the Hedgehog and Twilight the Fox had come to the gang's aid. Having no special powers of his own, Knuckles ran up and helped them out by pushing against the racing kart directly.

"Hey, Wind, Twilight, how's it going?" he asked, still pushing against the machine.

"Oh, you know," said Twilight.

"Same old stuff," said Wind.

"How about you?" they both asked at the same time. They didn't often speak in coordination like that, but with their mind reading abilities they could if they wanted two.

"Just the usual," said Knuckles. The conversation was very out-of-picture. Wind and Twilight were fighting to keep Eggman's kart from moving around from a few feet away, and Knuckles was using all his strength (that's a lot) to keep his own hold.

"Listen, Knuckles," said Wind urgently, "you need to go and stop anyone from firing that cannon."

"This time we're positive you can stop it," added Twilight, "we did our research."

"There's still time for you to win!!!!" said Wind. "Just go! We'll run out of energy if you stall any longer!!!!!"

"All right. If you guys are running low, just get out or you'll get run over," said Knuckles.

"Meet you at the cannon!" said Twilight.

"Got it!" said Knuckles. He let go of Eggman's kart. Wind and Twilight had to increase the amount of energy they put into holding it there. Eggman was emitting strange beeping noises that were actually censors for certain words he was using (if you get my drift). Knuckles drove off. Rouge the Bat was just behind him, not even taking notice of Eggman's racing kart being held up by a gray hedgehog and a purple fox.

Sonic was in a state of shock. He was looking at Tails Prower. Next to him was Shadow the Hedgehog. "Y-you guys....how did you get here?" he asked.

"Actually, it's quite simple," said Shadow. "I may have even gone here myself, but I needed _Miles _here to lend me something first," Tails glared at Shadow (who knew that he hated his real name), but didn't say anything.

"This is actually a spaceship," Shadow went on to explain. "There's a portal that leads here in that long glass tunnel. That, Sonic, is how I survived that last fall. Hmmph. I suppose I got lucky…." Sonic was astonished. 

"Good to see you, Sonic," interrupted Tails.

"You too," said Sonic. "So Shadow..." he added, "why did you leave? Better question, why did you come back?"

"It's a long story," said Shadow, which wasn't the real reason as it was not a long story.

"Tell me a shortened version, then!" said Sonic.

"Well, all right. I left because I couldn't stay....because I was......maybe....afraid," he finally said. "I didn't know at first. I came to find Tails when I figured out that I was being stupid. Afraid of my own memories....some ultimate life form I am..."

"Don't worry about it, Shad," said Sonic, "you saved me there..."

"No problem, Sonic," said Shadow, lightening his tone a great deal.

"But....who's gonna keep Eggman from firing that cannon if I'm stuck down here!?!? Zoom can win...but you don't expect him to actually stop him!?!?!" Sonic asked in a panic.

"Don't worry about it," said Tails confidently. "I already have someone working on it."

"Who?" Shadow asked curiously.

"Maybe you shouldn't meet them, Shadow...something might mess up," said Tails.

"Mess up?"

"Let's just say you know them from someplace else..." Tails told him mischievously.

(Author's note: Now I take the time to explain this rather odd concept which is entirely made up so don't use it as a general rule with anyone but….well, me. You see, all the Sonic stories, games, etc take place in a huge, mega thing called the Chaos Dimension. Within the dimension are universes, after which it is pretty self-explanatory. Twilight and Wind live in a separate universe than this particular story happens to take place in. Shadow and Sonic do not tend to travel between universes (at least not with me), in fact the easiest way to determine which of my various universes a story takes place in is what happens to Shadow at the end of SA2. Although I am pretty sure at the moment that this universe's Sonic met Wind and Twilight at one point or another during their escapades…. Got me so far? Oh well. But Tails and Knuckles tend to travel a lot and know several different universes. Should I decide to post another Sonic story, you can be sure that this concept will pop up again. Of course by now anyone reading is confused out of it……… Now prepare for mind-talking and bad grammar.)

* * *

Back on the track, trouble was hanging overhead like a space colony orbiting earth - going around in circles until one day (with just a dash of Chaos) it falls. Well, it hadn't exactly crashed yet, but...oh.....you get my point already.

_I'm losing energy!!!! _mind-talked Twilight.

_Me too....this is bad...._ replied Wind.

_We've gotta get out of the road! _Twilight.

_I know...but Eggman'll get away! _Wind.

_I can't do this much longer, Wind!_ Twilight.

_I think it may be safe to let go....look out!!!!_ Wind jumped aside, but couldn't send his message on time. Twilight had almost managed to get out of the way on time....but not quite. The gray kart, going at a vicious speed, ran right over her ankle. Her sock got caught and she was dragged along, only for it to rip a few painful feet away. Twilight refused to scream aloud, but she was shouting in her thoughts. Wind could hear them; _Ugggh......my ankle.....I think it's broken or something....uggh..._

"Just....go!" she shouted over to him.

"Not a chance, Twilight!" said Wind. He ran over to his fallen friend.

Suddenly from behind them a loud horn sounded. Behind the bright headlights that followed, Wind saw a horribly pink car (Twilight had squinted her eyes closed). _Great,_ he thought, _the very last living being that we need now. Amy Rose. _

Amy's car stopped. She poked her head out the window. "Need any help?"

"Not from _you,_" said Wind.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sane in this story."

Wind looked at Amy. Then he looked at Twilight. Then he looked at Amy again. He had no choice.

"All right."

"So you're saying Eggman ran your friend over?" Amy asked. She was still driving.

"Yeah..." said Wind.

"And now her ankle is broken?"

"I don't know."

"Owwwwwwww," said Twilight.

"Stop moaning! I thought you were trying to be dignified!" snapped Wind.

"You're right..." said Twilight. She stiffened her resolve and shut up.

"I'm afraid we can't do much until we get to the finish. I don't have anything in here to help you out, and even if I did, none of us know what we're doing, as far as I know," said Amy.

"Nope," said Wind. "I've got no medical training whatsoever."

"I'll hold out," said Twilight.

"You didn't seem so confident just a minute ago," said Wind.

"Shut up," said Twilight.

* * *

Zoom was the first to reach the cannon. He stood there for a minute and looked at the controls. There was something he had to do, something he had to get to before it was too late..._Disarm the cannon!_ That was what Tails had told him to do. Disarm...what did disarm mean? What was a cannon? Disarm......Zoom liked his arms! He used them to climb walls in Chao Races. Cannon? Canna Soup? Canna Vegetables? Cans....with _arms? _But wait….maybe when Tails said that, he meant armor, like the kind in that story Tails used to tell him, the legend of Sir Buildalot! Armor! That could mean a weapon! So _disarm_ must mean to get rid of the weapon! Was this a cannon? How was Zoom supposed to get rid of it? Well, at least he could stop anyone from using it.

But Zoom's thoughts were interrupted when none other than Eggman appeared. Immediately, Zoom flew up to the control panel. 

"Try to stop me all you want, Chao, but know that your attempts are feeble!" Eggman roared.

Zoom made Chao noises at Eggman. Whatever he was trying to do, Zoom wasn't about to let him do it.

"Didn't you hear me, Chao? YOU CANNOT STOP ME!!!!!! MWA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!" Eggman roared.

Zoom stayed calm and made more Chao noises, which are exceedingly difficult to put into words and far more difficult to translate.

Eggman got tired of talk, pulling out a laser beam and aiming carefully at Zoom.

"One more move, Chao! JUST ONE!" he shouted.

This was enough for Zoom. Immediately he leapt upon Eggman, blocking his eyes, punching and kicking with the strength of a hundred red Chao Drives. Eggman would try to knock him off, but Zoom was strong and steadfast and determined. He could not be moved. Still he punched and hit and just tried to make sure Eggman couldn't get at the controls to the cannon until someone could get there to help him. But alas! Eggman had knocked him off and too the ground! But Zoom could not give up! He got up immediately when any other Chao would have sat on the ground dazed for several minutes. The world would come to an end if Eggman fired that cannon!

It was not something that Tails or Sonic or anyone else Zoom knew ever told him. It was something that Zoom just _knew. _Perhaps it was a Chao instinct, perhaps it was just a feeling, I myself don't even know. But Zoom never once thought about it before he reincarnated (after doing which all his memories would be erased). It was frighteningly simple.

__

If Eggman fired that cannon, all would be destroyed.

With that in mind, Zoom flew.

He flew for Sonic and Shadow and Knuckles, who would have given anything to stop Eggman right as he was getting the chance to do so.

He flew for Tails, who had always accompanied him whether in the air, in the water, or on the road. Tails who took care of him and told him stories and raced and laughed and just had fun in general with him.

But most of all, he flew for the planet in general. For his beautiful Chao Garden. For the vast desert, the open sea, the bright cities. For all in between. For the swirling clouds and soft snow and sunny days. For music! For racing, for the feel of the wind in front of him when he raced with the little car bubble down, for the thrill of speed! 

And there was Eggman, lunging for the cannon like a child over a freshly broken piñata. He couldn't get to the cannon! He just couldn't! Zoom wouldn't let it happen! Still Eggman drew nearer and nearer to the big red "fire" button---

**__**

WHAM!!!!

The blow struck most likely was not as loud as it seemed, but it was all Zoom heard as he unleashed a flying kick onto Eggman's balding head and started attacking it again.

There was good news and bad news.

The bad news………was that Eggman had only been hindered for a couple seconds and very soon was almost at the cannon.

The good news was that it was enough time.

* * *

And so a rather badly written ending….well, review if you read the whole way through, please review…bye…man, why am I so depressed right now? Oh well….see ya!


	9. Zooming Home

You honestly didn't think THAT was the ending, did you? You think I'm THAT terrible of a story-ender? Sheesh!!!!! Well, sorry for the delay, if anyone is still reading. THIS is the ending. Hope ya like it, folks. More notes afterward, I assure you.

* * *

****

BZZZZZZT!!!! 

Eggman suddenly found himself being electrified. Stunned, he could only watch.

The shock had come from a tiny yellow hedgetoddler (hedgehog + toddler = hedgetoddler). Behind him was a purple echidna. The very tips of her spines were white. She wore them in two long pigtails. She also wore a Mario cap. Her shirt bore a logo along these lines, although I am not very good with ASCII art:

( N i n t e n d o )

Of course it does not matter what it looked like. What mattered was, the echidna was a worker for Nintendo, and she and the little yellow hedgehog had just as good as saved the planet.

Many people arrived at once. Rouge and Knuckles rode in neck and neck, only to find they had been beaten to it. Amy drove her pink convertible in only a second after, with Wind and Twilight in the back. Just behind them were Tails, Sonic, and Shadow, riding in the Tornado. Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally Knuckles spoke.

"Starlight?"

The other echidna nodded. Everyone looked at Knuckles, until Wind poked Twilight on the shoulder and pointed at the little hedgehog of yellow.

"That's Zap!" said Twilight.

"How'd he get here?" wondered Wind. "I thought we told Flara to watch him!"

Twilight shrugged. "You know Flara, if you looked up 'unreliable' in the dictionary her picture would be there."

"Oh, you don't know these people, do you?," said Knuckles, who once again was an inter-universal traveler. "This is Wind, that's Twilight. The little hedgedude in yellow is Zap, Wind's little brother. Flara is Wind's little sister. The purple echidna is Starlight. I never knew you worked for Nintendo…"

The comment did not reach Starlight, who was trying Eggman up with a rope.

"What exactly is going on here?" asked Sonic.

Starlight sighed. "Looks like I'm gonna have to explain stuff from the beginning…..ok. I'm Starlight the Echidna. I am the official mediator between the Nintendo and SEGA dimensions. SEGA had a plot. If you remember, Sonic, they made you invite the Dark Side to this tournament. Then, Tails found himself poisoned, but it wasn't deadly. It seemed suspicious, didn't it?"

Everyone could only nod and continue to listen to Starlight's tale. 

"That's because Eggman _wasn't _behind it."

"WHAT?" shouted Sonic.

"Eggman wasn't behind it, Sonic. It was SEGA. They had to keep Tails out of the race because HE would have figured this out before. HE would have stopped Eggman! He knew, remember?"

"So, you're saying SEGA wanted the planet destroyed?"

"No, not at all! What SEGA was trying to do was force _you _to stop him on your own, using your quick thinking or whatever! So they couldn't let you know what was going on beforehand, or you could have made a plan!"

"And so they used the Director…." realized Sonic slowly. 

"Exactly. Remember out in the desert when you thought Eggman had disconnected your call?"

"Yeah…."

"Well, he was _actually _tampering with his car, which might I add disqualifies him. He put an invisibility booster in his kart. _That's _how he got ahead and started early without anyone noticing. Which brings us here."

"So you're the heroine of the day, Starlight…" said Knuckles.

"No, I'm not," Starlight objected. "I was almost here too late. Zoom is the hero of the day."

Everyone looked at Zoom.

"It's true," said Starlight. "Zoom got here first. I have cameras on this place. Zoom held Eggman back. He showed true courage."

"Bravery," said Shadow, "is not proportional. A lot of it can come in very small packages. I think Zoom is our proof of that."

"I don't know what proportional means," added Sonic, "but I agree with Shadow. Three cheers for Zoom, the newest hero!"

* * *

Rouge and Knuckles were the first to leave the house by the track. Both of them had important business to attend to and were glad to get away from each other. Eggman, of course, had been jailed, and all was peaceful in the Chaos Dimension.

Wind sat with Twilight watching the sun set. It was Twilight's favorite part of the day, for obvious reasons. Twilight's ankle was bandaged, but she was fine. The two bid farewell to Sonic, Tails, Amy, Starlight, Zoom, and Shadow. They had their own universe to go home to, and all of them (save for Zoom) would be there waiting for them, duplicates.

Starlight left along with them, as she had to get back to Nintendo Headquarters in the Mushroom Dimension. She, like Knuckles and Rouge, had very pressing business to take care of. 

Amy also left, for once, as she wanted to go shopping in Station Square and the nearest train there would leave soon. 

"So, where ya' headed?" Sonic asked Shadow.

Shadow shrugged. "I'll find my way around. I've got soul searching to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I fulfilled my promise, didn't I? All I've done since then is take care of official business, like finding a decent place to live and things like that. But I want to find my purpose. I didn't survive for no reason, Sonic. There's got to be something…some….reason why I'm still here.

"Probably so you can be in more video games," said Sonic grimly. "It's our fate, or somethin' like that."

"Hey," said Tails, "At least YOU'RE not fated as the sidekick. Besides, any other way to live life would just be boring!"

Sonic wholeheartedly agreed.

"That's it!" said Shadow. "I've found it!"

"Found what?" said Sonic.

"I've found why I'm here! It's to….it's to have friends like you guys. To…I dunno, to be a pal. To hang out. To enjoy myself!"

"Wow, Shadow, ya finally get it!" said Sonic.

"Hey, maybe you guys could hang out at my place and we could let the next adventure happen to us there!"

"Great idea, Tails! Let's ditch this place before the owner of the racetrack comes back!" said Sonic.

"And therefore you won't have to pay him…" said Shadow with a sideways glance at Sonic.

The first stars appeared in the sky as two hedgehogs and two racekarts headed off, zooming away.

* * *

Well, did ya like it? Huh huh huh? TELL ME!!!!! If you are reading, review please!!!

…I might not write in the Sonic section anymore….but I do have another story or two to post…..you'll have to tell me if ya wanna see it up here or not. Sorry, peoples, that's just the way it works. 

Oh, and a huge, huge, giant thanks to aliceamyrose, who definently reviewed the most. Or at least the most where it counted. Actually, thanks to everyone who's reading this! SOOOOO much! You have no idea how much it means to me **sob** Well, bye!!! Maybe I'll see ya soon!!! Maybe if you read the Kirby section I'll see ya around!!! I'm still writing! Peace out, all!


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